xLiy BEGINNING OF LAST ILLNESS 297 



to the Dominions Club, where they had tea with 

 the Duke of Argyll and Princess Louise. " At 

 six the King and Queen came and were very nice. 

 She thanked me for my books." Towards the 

 end of the month he notes that he had interesting 

 talks with Sir Wilfrid Laurier and with General 

 Botha, who were in England. 



All this while the House of Lords was in much 

 anxiety about its very existence and in more than 

 two minds as to the manner in which, if at all, 

 that existence, in any practical legislative sense, 

 was to be prolonged. He attended a " Meeting 

 of Opposition Peers at Lord Curzon's to consider 

 Lansdowne's House of Lords Bill. I said a few 

 words. At the House of Lords afterwards Lans- 

 downe brought in his Bill." This was on May 8. 

 Almost the last of his public acts for a period of 

 many weeks was towards the end of July, when 

 he writes : " Thursday 20th. Wound up the 

 debate on the Parliament Bill in the House of 

 Lords. We did not divide " ; and " Friday 21st. 

 Large meeting at Lansdowne House. Asquith's 

 letter to Balfour was read announcing that the 

 King has consented to make enough Peers to 

 swamp the House of Lords. Halsbury, Selborne, 

 Sahsbury, Northumberland, Norfolk, Somerset 

 and others for dying in the last ditch, but Lans- 

 downe and, I think, the majority considered that 

 as the Bill must pass it was no use to let them 

 also make a Radical House of Lords." 



Proportional Representation at which he had 

 long worked so hard was occupying him still, and 

 he was at a meeting in its favour on June 16. A 

 few days later he was at Sunningdale, lunching 



